Surviving the Thunderbird Update Disaster

[firefoxed]

With Thunderbird 60.3.3, some of my favorite add-ons stopped working — a nightmare. I know it's been announced, but for those who like me don't stay on top of every detail, Mozilla basically shafted us, advising us to update without warning that our experience was about to change. Of course this is what happened with Firefox before. I can't quite believe the level of disregard for users, and the millions of dollars worth of user time that Mozilla is willing to waste.

Anyhow, that was the bitching part. For those on the same track, wanted to share the path I used to apply some quick relief. Looking for a long-term solution of course — grateful for any discussion of this.

What worked for me today:
- uninstall the latest Thunderbird
- install TB 52.9.1
- in Tools / Add-Ons, click the cogwheel, select Install 'Add-On from File', install broken add-ons

Attaching copies of the add-ons, some of which are no longer available, like FoxClocks or AttachmentExtractor.

[JesusOfSuburbia]

Looking for a long-term solution of course — grateful for any discussion of this.

Wouldn't it be an idea to try out Interlink then? (In case you've not yet heard of it, it's based on UXP, and uses the trusty old-school Thunderbird interface/application front-end). It's maintained by The New Tobin Paradigm (if you're reading this, Matt: you did a terrific job!). You can find it here: http://binaryoutcast.com/projects/interlink/.
Even though 100% compatibility isn't guaranteed, since it's not an exact (i.e. 1:1) replica of Thunderbird, the (few) add-ons that I need (like MinToTray, Cardbook and Enigmail) work just as expected under Interlink (MinToTray doesn't under Thunderbird 60). YMMV.

The only thing you need to keep in mind, though, is that Interlink doesn't use the Thunderbird add-on repository, so you'll need to install (and update) your add-ons manually. Despite that, though, my overall experience with it so far has been great.

[firefoxed]

If that's the equivalent of what PaleMoon did for Firefox refugees, then yes, that sounds perfect!

[JesusOfSuburbia]

That's one way to describe it, yes. It looks and feels like the good ole Thunderbird of yesteryear (a Thunderbird 3-ish look is what I'd describe it as), yet under the hood, it's based on an up-to-date and actively maintained codebase.

[Moonchild]

Important to note is that Interlink focuses on mail, news and rss feeds only. It does not include chat (but we have Ambassador for that!) or PIM-like calendaring/lightning (it can be built with that support but the supplied binaries don't have it -- maybe a separate application for that in the future also ... ?)
If that's fine and you're looking for a mail/news/rss client only, then Interlink is your go-to.